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Fox Studio Classics, as a line, doesn't exist anymore. Two for the Road, released last November, was the last in the series. BTVOTD is expected to come in the Cinema Classics Collection line.

So, no, BTVOTD will not have a boring white cover.

Two quick questions regarding the upcoming "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" SE: Who do I have to kill to get official confirmation of the release date, specs, cover art and so on for this disc? And where do these people live?

-BJ

That is good news about Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. They have been showing it on Fox Movie Channel for some time in letterbox so I figured a DVD couldn't be that far off. The print quality looked pretty good on television.

matt wrote:Fox Studio Classics, as a line, doesn't exist anymore. Two for the Road, released last November, was the last in the series.

Looks like something's changed because DVD Times is reporting that a new wave, including The Black Swan, The Keys of the Kingdom, and The River's Edge is coming on July 11th. Long live the cheesy Studio Classics cover art!

From davisdvd.com:

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has announced a trio of new titles - starring Doris Day - coming under their "Fox Studio Classics" line.

Due on January 30th, 2007 are Caprice, Do Not Disturb and Move Over Darling. Caprice will include featurettes "Decoding Doris Day," "Double-Oh Doris," "The Caprice Look: Conversation With William Creber;" Do Not Disturb features "Taylor Made: A Look Back With Rod Taylor," "The Extra Prince: Mike Romanoff," "The Music Man: Mort Garson;" Move Over Darling includes "Remaking Something's Got To Give," "Doris Vs. Marilyn," "The Amazing Road To 'Move Over Darling.'" All three also include 2.35:1 anamorphic transfers, Dolby Digital Stereo tracks, restoration comparisons and trailers. Retail is $19.98 each.

This is really a surprise for me, since I thought that Fox had killed the Studio Classics line in favor of the Cinema Classics banner.

That is odd since the covers clearly state they are all part of the Cinema Classics Collection:




Maybe the guy over at davisdvd got it wrong?

As Move Over Darling was based on the original poem, it's great to see Fox going to great lengths to include the Griffith original Enoch Arden: Part II from 1911 as an extra on the DVD. Who would have thought?

On the Beach is a fairly interesting 1959 film about nuclear annihilation ... with the radiation slowly wending its way to Australia after the rest of mankind has perished. It's fairly gloomy and hard-hitting for that era. In a lot of ways it seems to be from a transitional period, where a good deal of 50's morality and chasteness is struggling to break free and face bigger issues (including sexuality).

In fact this conflict is personified in the relationship between upright family-man, US naval officer (Gregory Peck) and the loose drunken aging Australian (Ava Gardner). It's interesting to see three generations of American actors: Fred Astaire, Peck and Anthony Perkins. Astaire is very good here, but I found it hard to remember that his character was supposed to be an intellectual, and former nuclear scientist.

The Perkins role could have been better scripted. Most scenes with him and his wife are rather melodramatic and stagy. Yet it was effective that they were new parents and had an infant to consider.

It's the end of the world at the end of the world. Accents come and go, so Waltzing Mathilda is played repeatedly to remind us this is Australia.

Stanley Kramer is not exactly the most subtle director, as the last shot will attest. But the film successfully puts impending nuclear doom in the background and portrays how people live and act knowing that they and mankind will be extinct in a matter of months.

According to this, posted in the Film Noir and Ford thread, Fox is releasing and re-releasing several titles on the Cinema Classics banner, including a Special Edition of The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Poor dx23; can't catch a break. We've got a thread for the Fox Cinema Classics line. The Fox Studio Classics line seems to be defunct since July of 2006.

Matt wrote:Poor dx23; can't catch a break. We've got a thread for the Fox Cinema Classics line. The Fox Studio Classics line seems to be defunct since July of 2006.

Do'h!

Matt wrote:Poor dx23; can't catch a break. We've got a thread for the Fox Cinema Classics line. The Fox Studio Classics line seems to be defunct since July of 2006.

Someone tell Fox, because apparently they still it's alive and kicking.

The R2 discs are packaged much nicer and since I have a coupon for Play.co.uk and they are priced quite cheap, I'd ideally like to pick them up...


However in terms of picture quality, I'd like to know how the regional releases compare to one another and whether they are sourced from the same remasterings and therefore identical transfers?

Something tells me that's not the case however...

I bought the R1 versions because they came out first (I think) and/or had better extra features. I think the UK "Studio Classics" editions, in general, tended to be barebones editions, but the "Cinema Reserve" editions were equal or slightly better in terms of extras. I don't know about PQ, though.

The are a few sites that may be worth checking: DVD Compare for comparisons of disc contents, DVD Basin to check for reviews, and Find DVD to find the UK Woolworths and Tesco listings, since those sites often offer a picture of rear cover (to check specs if you can't find anywhere else).

I'd avoid the R2 studio classics range unless you find them dirt cheap. I've got quite a few and in many cases ended up upgrading to the R1. In general the picture quality is softer with muddier colours. Also the black and white tonality in certain films seems slightly off. I can only speak for the discs I own, but it's an issue I've noticed on a lot of older PAL-ised transfers. Paramount and MGM's old discs are particularly bad for this (whereas, recent releases like To Catch a Thief look wonderful). I was very happy with the image on Viva Zapata!, however - which I believe isn't available yet across the pond.

As long as you don't mind waiting a while for delivery, the R1s can be had from amazonuk marketplace for about a fiver.

Thanks for the info!

I'm actually in Canada so I can pick up the R1's in store dirt cheap, and I guess that's just what I'll do.

It'd be great if somebody could do quality scans of all the R2 covers though, to replace the ugly Studio Classics artwork.

Also, a couple of the early Studio Classics have been reissued in superior quality under the newer Cinema Classics range. I wonder if others, at least higher profile titles, might be reintroduced via the Cinema Classics range as well?

I see that the shop at TCM.com is offering to give you a copy of Sunrise from the Studio Classics line if you buy $50 worth of Fox DVDs from them. (It's probably not a very good deal, and in any case I can't find any references to this on their site, just advertised on TV.) There have been several occasions where Fox has given away this disc over the years, and others (like the "Best Pictures" collection) where you can get it more or less as a throw-in.

Why do you suppose they keep doing this? Is it simply a case that they grossly over-printed the initial run and want to get rid of them, or is there some other motivation I can't fathom?

Whatever the motivation, I wonder how many people have been introduced to silent film and/or Murnau by accepting this disc as a freebie attached to some other purchase? I can scarcely think of a better title in this series to throw in as an extra to an unsuspecting purchaser of The Rains Came or Gentleman's Agreement. I wonder if even members of this forum were first turned on to silents by a permutation of this recurring deal? I'll admit that, the first time I saw Sunrise as a give-away, my reaction was "never heard of it" and I passed on it. I wish I hadn't; it would've saved me a lot of time (although I'm quite pleased with the MoC version I eventually bought which I would likely not have had I owned the FSC version at the time.)

sevenarts wrote:review of Day the Earth Stood Still

I hope I don't come off as a snarking prick, but I think it should be a polite rule that if you're linking to your own blog, you do it on the forum blogroll, or at least say "My blog on The Day The Earth Stood Still" in your hyperlink-- to at least distinguish it from General Reviews? The poster above isn't reviewing Fox Studio/Cinema Classics new release of the film, but the film itself. I daresay if you want to start or advertise a discussion for the film itself, create a thread for the film (or post your blog link there if one exists already).

I used to run a blog for a short time so I sympathise with the want to drive traffic and get it off the ground... but if we start nudging members in this fashion-- there are many bloggers and siteowners and reviewers on this site-- we'll wind up in haywirehyperlinkland.

Again, sevenarts, pls don't take this the wrong way. I thought your CC Naked tagging of your blog entry as your own totally cool, btw.

Sorry if I offended, I didn't mean anything sneaky by it, I thought it was fairly obvious that it's just my own blog -- I'll make sure it's more clear in the future. And I don't want to barrage the board with links either, just add my contribution on films whenever it seems relevant. Thanks for the feedback, HerrSchreck.

The old 70-minute making of has been edited down to 25 minutes, but I don't think I really mind that. The old documentary was extremely boring in pace and was hard to watch all the way through. And it had that extremely creepy looking old troll guy with liver spots all over him (Can't remember his name, and I left the DVD at work yesterday) which was not too pleasant.

we'll wind up in haywirehyperlinkland.

Herr Schreck, may I use this as the name for the new blog I'm creating? My old blog name, The Cabinet Of Dr. Calamari was too obscure a reference for pretty much everyone but the people that read this site.

Leave Her to Heaven, Japan release

Here

The print utilized is obviously the same as the one employed for the US edition(damage marks appear at identical places). However, grain has been completely removed, and contrast has been boosted. This makes the sumptuous cinematography look worse, with obvious edge enhancement to boot.

That being said, the close-ups of Gene Tierney have never looked more ravishing and other-worldly in this format. Somehow it appears that all the effort in the remastering has been spent here. For all die-hard Tierney fans this disc is a must. (The Japanese subs are removable.)